Ever since I was a girl, I loved American history. Wagons trains, settlers, cowboys, indians, Manifest Destiny and the push west, immigrants as they came to the United States all filled the imagination of my young mind. I spent a good part of my youth thinking I had been born in the wrong century.
The books I devoured in those years were historical fiction of every flavor. Regencies. Westerns. Straight historicals from all time periods of American and British history. All of it. My favorite book until I was in high school was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. When it was finally unseated on my list, it was replaced by Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Even after all these years, Outlander is still my favorite book of all time.
There is something about the American west that pulls on my heart. The West embodied hope, possibility, beauty, and adventure. There was hope that this was a place where anyone could start over, build something new, or find their purpose. The possibilities were endless. People escaping the city were searching not only for that hope in possibility, but also for the beauty that the untouched land offered. Setting out and finding just the right place to begin this new life was part of the fun and adventure.
This spirit is part of the reason why people still come to America today and why many of us stuck in big, hot, humid cities and suburbs (like me), long for a tiny cabin in the mountains. I suspect this spirit of possibility and beauty is why many of us authors, like Cynthia and I, like to write stories set in the West and why readers love to see our characters there. We all want that possibility for ourselves.
When I first started dreaming about the Turning Creek series, I only knew one thing. I wanted to write about harpies. A harpy is a monster in Greek mythology. They had the body of a bird of prey and the face of a woman. They were hated, vile creatures who stole and tortured people.
I wanted to redeem them. I wanted to write a different history for them and I needed a place for them, a place of hope and possibility where they could find their beauty and have a little adventure in the process. The American West was the place I knew they needed to be and so Turning Creek, a tiny mountain town in Colorado in 1858 was born.
The series follows three harpies, Petra, Marina, and Dora as they struggle to both come to terms with their violent natures and to find their place in the world. They are monsters with hearts of gold. As I write this post, it occurs to me that my harpies are not unlike the beast in Beauty and the Beast. They think they are defined and trapped by what they are and they let this belief drive their choices. It is not until each is pushed, by circumstances and the people who love them, that they began to see the hope in their own destinies.
They are surrounded by characters, some of whom become love interests (because every story needs some romance), who support them and see them for who they are deep down. The book I am finishing up now, follows Iris, the postmistress of Turning Creek and the harpies’ guardian of sorts. That book, Letters in the Snow, should be out in February. The first two books in the series, Lightning in the Dark and Storm in the Mountains, are out now. There will be five books total in this series.
My advice to new writers is to write that story that will not leave you alone and rewrite and edit it and then do it again. There are many paths to publication so do research and choose what works best for you then spread your wings. All good things take time and work. After a lifetime of writing non-fiction, I started writing fiction about five years ago and it has been the adventure my younger self longed for when I was dreaming of the West.
Book Description
Storm in the Mountains
Marina Ocypete is a harpy, a Remnant of the Greek myth living in a small town in the Colorado Territory She would rather start a decent fight than sit around idle. The local sheriff offers her a job as a deputy which seems like a better choice than suffering from boredom, but Reed Brant has a way of getting under her skin.
With the influx of Remnants in his town, Reed needs Marina’s skills as a harpy to keep the peace. His head knows she is not the get married and settled down type he wants, but she might be just the thing his heart desires.
When women start disappearing in Turning Creek, it will be up to Marina and Reed to find the cause behind the fear gripping their town. Marina will have to choose between a fate she never questioned and the man who makes her believe even a harpy can have a heart.
Buy Links:
ebook
Amazon http://amzn.to/1LmPAnh
Kobo https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/storm-in-the-mountains-turning-creek-2
Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/storm-in-the-mountains-michelle-boule/1122229972?ean=2940151051781
Amazon http://amzn.to/1HzyDFt
CreateSpace https://www.createspace.com/5571763
Author Bio
Michelle Boule has been, at various times, a librarian, a bookstore clerk, an administrative assistant, a wife, a mother, a writer, and a dreamer trying to change the world. Michelle writes the historical fantasy series Turning Creek. She is married to a rocket scientist and has two small boys. She brews her own beer, will read almost anything in book form, loves to cook, bake, go camping, and believes Joss Whedon is a genius. She dislikes steamed zucchini, snow skiing, and running. Unless there are zombies. She would run if there were zombies.
Visit Michelle at A Wandering Eyre http://wanderingeyre.com/